Page 5 - 33 The First Great Deception

obtain great wisdom and exaltation by

transgressing His law.

But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be

the meaning of the words, “In the day that

thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”?

Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led

him to believe, that he was to be ushered into

a more exalted state of existence? Then

indeed there was great good to be gained by

transgression, and Satan was proved to be a

benefactor of the race. But Adam did not find

this to be the meaning of the divine sentence.

God declared that as a penalty for his sin,

man should return to the ground whence he

was taken: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt

thou return.” Verse 19. The words of Satan,

“Your eyes shall be opened,” proved to be

true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve

had disobeyed God, their eyes were opened